Sapphires
Miranda Tapsell, Jessica Mauboy, Deborah Mailman and Shari Sebbens.
Caris Bizzaca, The Sydney Morning Herald, reports
On a recent trip to the US, pop singer and actress Jessica Mauboy
was excited to find ''our baby'', the Aussie film The Sapphires, was
making some serious waves.
The success of the film even led her to a one-on-one meeting with
music industry svengali Simon Cowell.
''In the industry, [word] gets around really quick over there and
he had heard about it and he was so excited,'' she says.
''[He's] such a genuine and brilliant, I guess, powerful man in
the industry. People like that can make anything happen.''
Mauboy says during their meeting that Cowell was watching the
trailer and she could see him tapping his foot out of the corner of her eye.
''I'm like YES he's into it,'' she says.
''Big people like that, you want to give all you can and he
definitely took it in.''
Mauboy stars alongside Deborah Mailman (TV's Offspring) and
newcomers Shari Sebbens and Miranda Tapsell as the Sapphires - four Aboriginal
women, who travelled to Vietnam in 1968 to perform soul music for US troops,
helped out by an out-of-work Irish musician (Bridesmaids' Chris O'Dowd).
The film, which got a 10-minute standing ovation at Cannes Film
Festival, was also backed by Oscar-magnets the Weinstein Company, who bought
the distribution rights for the US and other territories.
Mauboy says she visited Los Angeles for a few auditions and labels
seem to be ''biting at the soundtrack'' for The Sapphires.
''The whole time I was there doing a lot of auditions, everyone
was asking about the film,'' she says.
''I was just like, 'Yeah, this is our baby … dude we just can't
wait for you to see it.' ''
She says the feeling over in the US is very positive and ''there's
a buzz''.
''It was cool that an Australian film, indigenous film … people
are embracing it and really respecting this wonderful story,'' she says.
In The Sapphires, Mauboy could stay somewhat in her comfort
zone singing hits such as I Heard It Through the Grapevine and What a
Man, but it also required some serious acting.
Filming The Sapphires was also quite confronting, because
the 1968 setting meant that when the cameras were rolling, Mauboy and the cast
were experiencing the extreme racism of the time.
Mauboy says that she's never really been a victim of racism
herself.
''There was probably one moment in high school, where someone
called me a black bitch,'' she says. ''It hurt but at that time, I was like [to
them] 'Get over it, we're in a new world' … It kind of just flew over my
head.''
One scene in the film has the girls performing at a local pub for
a talent show. While they're clearly the best act, not one person in the
all-Caucasian audience claps for them.
''There's the pub scene and you're having everyone hating on you
and for what?'' Mauboy says. ''It's like they actually went through that.
Eyeing those really evil eyes.
''It was confronting. It felt very real.''
